You want back-story? I'll give you back-story!

Today, I'm planning to discuss some ways to add back-story.

First, the easiest way: have the narrator tell it. Doing it that way is easy and effective.

From The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehard and Avery Hopwood

That's it, the writer then moves on. So the back-story did its purpose - it explained why he was called the bat and then continued. She didn't go on about he night hours or why he didn't go out in the day... only what she needed.

The problem with adding back-story this ways is clear. It's not exciting or original - it lacks drama.
Let's look at another way to make it more dramatic and original.

Disclosure through dialog:

Here's an example from Careless in Red by Elizabeth George:

The key is - never let the back-story sound forced in dialog. Don't bring up things in the past if they wouldn't be uttered otherwise. When we're asked questioned about our past, we won't start at birth and explain our lives and what happened until this point... in fact, most won't disclose more than a line or two unless prodded. Do the same with your story.

Tomorrow, I will disclose other techniques.

Let me interrupt the action to tell you about my life...

This week, I want to talk about my biggest peeve as a reader/editor/reviewer...etc. In one word:

Back-story!

I review and edit a lot of unpublished work and one of the common beginner mistakes is what I said above: back-story. 

Here's an example of back-story: A woman is running for her life through the woods, her stalker close behind, she finds a house in the clearing that looks like a cabin where she used to camp as a child. Now, instead of keeping the flow going, the writer decides to stop the action and instead, write about the camp and how her family went to the lake every year.

What!? Why would the reader want to know about that? And then?

Back-story is vital in a novel. We want to know the background of the main character, we want to know why a character drinks a lot or why they chose to be a mortician. But, don't stop action to write paragraphs of unrelated narrative. You WILL lose the reader. 

Here are some things to remember about back-story:

• Don't bring in back-story until the novel's action is underway. I don't like to add more than two sentences of back-story into the first chapter.
• Layer in the back-story as it arises but let what happened in the past effect what happens in the story. For example, in the story above, the woman comes across the house in the clearing and instead of running inside for help, she keeps going. Why? Because - as you write in the back-story - her abusive grandfather lived in a cabin similar to that one and she has bad memories there. You don't need to go into all the memories but knowing a bit about her past will explain her current actions.
• Tell the back-story in a variety of ways.

Over the week, I will discuss how to layer back-story into a novel in a variety of ways.

Why won't that character shut up!?

As I stated yesterday, I thought I would blog on a couple of complicated voices often found in dialog.

Stutterers / Lisps -Currently, I'm writing a mystery where one of the suspects stutters. In fact, I'm reading a mystery where one of the suspects stutters. So, I guess it's common to add stutterers to novels. However, do not get carried away. A person in real life may stutter over almost every word but your dialog doesn't need to.
What can you do?

Perhaps write one or two words in the speech as stuttered. Or, write correctly and add a tag: he stuttered.


People with accents/dialects - Have you ever read 'The Grapes of Wrath'? (See below) After reading that book in high school, for a month I spoke with a Southern accent.

Often writers tend to get carried away with writing in dialect. Can you imagine reading this for a whole novel? "Ah reckon ah don' haff ta go dowan tuh th' rivuh tuhday, 'cawse we gots awl th' feeush we gwine need." Yikes!
What can writers do? Well, if you're insistent on writing in the dialect, only use select and common words such as 'ya' for 'you' or 'an' for 'and'. Or, write in proper English but add 'she said in a strong Russian accent' somewhere. Most people know what a British or Russian or Southern accent sounds like, they don't need phonetic spelling.

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Thank you, Charmaine from Wagging Tales
for your award. The Silver Lining Award.

Tomorrow, I will give it to three others...

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Hmmm, also, if you're following me and for some reason I am not following your blog, let me know. I will correct that error immediately.

I would like to introduce you to...

How often have you read a novel where, when a new character is introduced, all time and plot freezes and we need to read a paragraph or two into the life of this new character?

It happens so much in novels that I'm sure many writers believe this is the only way to introduce their characters. True? I hope not because that sort of writing drives me mad.

That being said, when introducing your characters to the reader, try to do it like you would in real life.

1) A person you meet for the first time will NOT approach and hand you a list of his or her main characteristics. "Hello, my name is Gary. I'm six-two, smart, witty, handsome, a Christian Scientist, my mother's a truck driver, my father tap dances for exercise, I only graduated high school, and recently I had my wisdom teeth extracted."

2) A person will NOT stand there for five minutes while you inspect and measure them for height, hair color, eye color and style of dress.

So, don't do this to your characters.

What can you do instead? Do what happens in real life, we get to know people gradually and through what they do and say.

Do this:

1) Write down the character's name on a sheet of paper.
2) Write down five things you think are interesting about the character.

a) 2 physical characteristics
b) 2 personality traits
c) 1 thing about his past or social role

3) Now, write five scenes where you SHOW instead of DESCRIBE (TELL) the characteristic through either dialog or narrative. For example, lets say Sarah dresses for looks rather than practically. How can  you show and not tell this?

When Mark left the room, Sarah reached down and slipped off her four-inch heel.

'Agh,' she said as she separated her crushed toes.

What about through dialog?

Mark turned around and placed his hands on his hips. 'Sarah, will you hurry? We're going to miss my brother's float.'
'It's these stupid shoes,' she replied.
'I told you to wear your trainers. Why would you wear four-inch heels to a parade?'

Source: The Writer's Way
Picture source: St. Johns Booksellers

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Here are some great blog posts I've read today:

Emotional Challenge from Fairway Fiction

Charmaine at Wagging Tales talks about Premise.

Karen from Coming Down the Mountain...Interviewed with e-publishing author Simon Kewin and it was interesting...check it out.

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Creativity and the Writer - Part 2

Yesterday, we discussed how to be creative with words and using the shapes and sounds of words to challenge the reader. Today, we will discuss:

1) The atmosphere of words - words carry and atmosphere with them. For example, we can use the word 'walk' or the word 'stroll' or the word 'perambulate' and though they mean similar things, they have a different effect. Walk is boring... stroll is modern whereas perambulate gives a grander more old-fashioned feeling. Effect.

In your novel what you write can change the effect. For example, if a single character ends a letter with 'Your sincerely,' you get a different effect than if he later writes 'hugs and kisses,' or ' Warmest regards.' The character can use language to get across a different message. Ah, the English language is grand, is it not?

2) The rhythm of words - this is important because it can make or break a novel.

For example, I used to study computer languages and examined many books written on the subject. Why did I pick one book over the other? Often, thanks to the modern amazon invention of 'look inside the book', it was because of the read. PHP could be a very boring or difficult subject to read about or it could be made interesting... what's the difference? Usually the writer. I good writer will learn the rhythm of words.

Why so important? Look at history. The first literature we've had as humans were often written to percussion... to rhythm. We remember lyrics better than chunks of prose. Rhythm affects our mode and pace and our relationships with others. We could write sentences that are five or six pages long but we would lose readers fast - we need rhythm to match what were reading.

When reading a fast action scene, we want  to read like were running, like we have adrenaline running through us. We make our sentences shorter.

When reading of love, we slow down, savor the words, whisper the words to ourselves. We want them to talk to eternity about love and will listen to long flowing flowery sentences.

Try to use these two devices to your advantage when writing.

Source: The Writer's Way

Action in the white space - Part III

The Smash Cut

The last thing I will mention about writing in the white space is something the movie/TV business calls - The Smash Cut.

What does this mean?

According to Wikipedia:

It is technique in film where one scene abruptly cuts to another without transition, usually meant to startle the audience. To this end, the smash cut usually occurs at a crucial moment in a scene where a cut would not be expected. To heighten the impact of the cut, a disparity in the type of scene on either side of the cut is often present, going from a fast-paced frenzied scene to a tranquil one, or going from a tense scene to a pleasant one, for example. Sometimes it is also used to transition from the more peaceful scene.

An example of a clichéd smash cut is in a murder scene; a knife is raised, and thrust down, with a smash cut to a more peaceful locale (a birthday party, for example) right when impact is expected.

Smash cutting can also be used to comedic effect; for example, directly after a prediction is made, cutting to the future showing the prediction to have been horribly wrong.

Writers can use this technique to... and should. Why? Because it can save many words writing the transitional explanation of how we got from one scene to another.

Take for example a subplot where one of your minor characters is in love and someone proposes to her. The next scene, the major characters are dancing at a wedding. We assume that the minor character said yes but we don't need all the filler of how the engagement and wedding planning went, especially if it's not vital the plot.

Picture Source: here

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Great blog post today by Stephen at Breakthrough Blogs on the seven C's of writing a great mystery. Check it out!

Also, another funny post by Elspeth Antonelli from It's a mystery about 5 questions not to ask a writer.

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Action in the white space - Part II

This pic has nothing to do with the article.

Yesterday was part one...now part two of communicating a point without actually writing it. Writing between the lines...or not. Here are a few more devices the writer can employ to engage the reader:

1) First, instead of narrating actions or emotions, let the other characters do it. Let them describe, let them notice emotions.

"Are you leaving, Jayne?"
"Ah, Patricia, you scared me."
"That’s ridiculous. How could my coming out of Peter’s room scare you?"
"I never heard you come into the kitchen. Never mind."
"Are you going out, Jayne? You’ve changed your clothes."
"Yeah, thinking about it. Your hair’s wet. Did you you and Peter shower... together?"

2) Do, don't tell. If you have chances in the book, use interactive narrative devices instead of talking to the reader.

Here is an example:  Rather than a character counting to three, the narrator does...thus, the reader counts along with the character.

One-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three.
He plugged his ears. Any second now. She should see the snake.
One-thousand-four.
She should be screaming by now.

Source: Brainstormer

Action in the white space - Part I

Over the course of the week, I'm going to be discussing writing in the white space. It's communicating a point without actually writing it. Writing between the lines...or not.

Sometimes as writers we worry that if we don't describe absolutely everything, our readers will be left confused but give your reader some credit. If your chapter started, "John scooped macaroni and cheese from the glass pan and plopped it on his plate", we as readers will assume it's dinner time (when) and that he's at home (where) not a restaurant and that he's not lactose intolerant...we gather a lot by action and the author didn't have to step in at all.

What are a few ways we can write action in the white space?

1) Show the outcome rather than describe the action...

"I won't let you hurt me again, John," she said.
He stepped closer. "What are you gonna do about it? You don't control me, I control you." He jabbed his finger into her chest.
"I have a gun, John, I do. Please, step back... step back, I say. I'm begging you, step back."
"Ha, you don't know how to use that gun, little girl. You don't even know --"
He looked down to his chest. The red spot grew on his paisley shirt.

So, I didn't describe the action of pulling the trigger but I described the result of the action. The reader will figure out she did know how to pull the trigger.

2) Let the reader settle disputes on his own or allow them to open Pandora's box ...

Although it is important to tie up many loose ends, not all of them need to be. I like watching the television show Bones. It's clear to me that Booth and Brennan feel a connection but they don't always agree. Booth is strong Catholic and Brennan... well, I don't know what she believes but it's closer to agnostic. On the show, they constantly debate the validity of their respective religions but the writers of the show never state what they feel is right or wrong. The viewers can make their own decisions.

A writer can do the same thing. We can write about controversial issues but it doesn't mean we have to answer all the universal questions. Let's say your book is about politics, your character is living in the United States and it's almost voting time. The writer gives the reader both sides of the debate - democrat or republican - the character debates internally, but at the end of the novel the character enters the voting booth and the story ends. Each reader can decide for themselves how the character voted.

Or, one character may be pregnant...she has many choices: keep the baby, abort, adopt or other. Throughout the book, the character debates but in the end, the reader does not know what happened. The reader can choose for themselves.

Not every box has to be opened, not every letter has to be read, not every answer has to be given.

Source: Brainstormer

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Great link: Patricia Stoltey at her blog listed Self-Editing steps... these are great links so check it out.

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Dialog: Distinctive Voice - the three Vs

Here are the three Vs (hey, that rhymes) of distinctive voice as taken from Brainstormers by James V. Smith:

1) Vocabulary - Each character should have their own vocabulary or pet phrases that separates them from the others

2) Verbosity - You should determine the length of each character's thoughts and speeches. You may not get some characters to shut up while others need prompting to say two words. Stereotypically (so it shouldn't be used much) grandmothers, women or old people go on and on while young teenage boys talk in grunts.

3) Velocity - The pace and rhythm of a characters speech  and be altered. It's in how you arrange words, sentences and ideas. One could speak without pausing for breath (maybe take out some of the commas) or one can pause often (maybe use more '...') or one could stutter (st-st-stut-tter)

Here is a good example of distinctive voices (take from Emma by Jane Austen - a conversation between Emma and Mrs. Bates):

"My mother's deafness is very trifling you see--just nothing at all.
By only raising my voice, and saying any thing two or three times over,
she is sure to hear; but then she is used to my voice. But it is very
remarkable that she should always hear Jane better than she does me.
Jane speaks so distinct! However, she will not find her grandmama
at all deafer than she was two years ago; which is saying a great
deal at my mother's time of life--and it really is full two years,
you know, since she was here. We never were so long without seeing
her before, and as I was telling Mrs. Cole, we shall hardly know
how to make enough of her now."

"Are you expecting Miss Fairfax here soon?"

"Oh yes; next week."

"Indeed!--that must be a very great pleasure."

"Thank you. You are very kind. Yes, next week. Every body is
so surprized; and every body says the same obliging things. I am
sure she will be as happy to see her friends at Highbury, as they
can be to see her. Yes, Friday or Saturday; she cannot say which,
because Colonel Campbell will be wanting the carriage himself one
of those days. So very good of them to send her the whole way!
But they always do, you know. Oh yes, Friday or Saturday next.
That is what she writes about. That is the reason of her writing out
of rule, as we call it; for, in the common course, we should not have
heard from her before next Tuesday or Wednesday."

"Yes, so I imagined. I was afraid there could be little chance
of my hearing any thing of Miss Fairfax to-day."

"So obliging of you! No, we should not have heard, if it had not
been for this particular circumstance, of her being to come here
so soon. My mother is so delighted!--for she is to be three months
with us at least. Three months, she says so, positively, as I
am going to have the pleasure of reading to you. The case is,
you see, that the Campbells are going to Ireland. Mrs. Dixon has
persuaded her father and mother to come over and see her directly.
They had not intended to go over till the summer, but she is so
impatient to see them again--for till she married, last October,
she was never away from them so much as a week, which must make
it very strange to be in different kingdoms, I was going to say,
but however different countries, and so she wrote a very urgent letter
to her mother--or her father, I declare I do not know which it was,
but we shall see presently in Jane's letter--wrote in Mr. Dixon's
name as well as her own, to press their coming over directly,
and they would give them the meeting in Dublin, and take them back
to their country seat, Baly-craig, a beautiful place, I fancy.
Jane has heard a great deal of its beauty; from Mr. Dixon, I mean--
I do not know that she ever heard about it from any body else;
but it was very natural, you know, that he should like to speak
of his own place while he was paying his addresses--and as Jane used
to be very often walking out with them--for Colonel and Mrs. Campbell
were very particular about their daughter's not walking out
often with only Mr. Dixon, for which I do not at all blame them;
of course she heard every thing he might be telling Miss Campbell
about his own home in Ireland; and I think she wrote us word
that he had shewn them some drawings of the place, views that he
had taken himself. He is a most amiable, charming young man,
I believe. Jane was quite longing to go to Ireland, from his account
of things."

Writing Dialog: Bring it on!

In my opinion, when writing fiction, there should always be conflict in dialog.

'Nice day, isn't it?'
'Oh, it sure is. The sun is a beautiful shade of yellow. Copperish, don't you think?'
'Copper would be a wonderful way to describe it. Do you know what this is?'
'No, what is it?'

It's conversation that's boring. There's no conflict, there's no point, the story isn't going anywhere.. 

How can we make our dialog sizzle?

1) Be aggressive, threaten - ('Go ahead, make my day.')

2) Be passively aggressive -submissive characters wreak havoc on dominant ones. (“No, dearest, I don’t mind picking up your socks and putting them in the wash for you,” Susan said, as she threw them in with a red shirt.)

3) Provocation - one character can taunt or dare another. ("Ron," he said. "You have to confront her now. If you don't she won't stop calling you.")

4) Use undercurrents - The words and actions or expressions do not match. (He slammed his glass down on the table. "I would love to go to Bermuda with you.")

5) Be ambiguous - Is there conflict? Isn't there? 

6) Subliminal conflict - While the two characters are engaged in innocent banter, disaster is waiting for them around the corner.

7) Word choices - there are fighting words. ("Want me to kick your butt?")

8) Sentence & Paragraph length - Shorter, abrupt sentences and paragraphs are more confrontational.

9) Repetition - Repeating key phrases add emphasis. "When I talk, you listen and you listen good."

10) Use imperatives. And in case you don't know what that means it's commands. Sit. Lie. Die. Buy. Pie. No, that last one's not really one. But I could sure use some...

And don't think that because you write sappy love stories or children's fiction that you can't have dialog with conflict... take a novel entitled The Three Billy-Goats Gruff:

"Who's that tripping over my bridge?" roared the troll .
"Oh, it is only I, the tiniest Billy Goat Gruff , and I'm going up to the hillside to make myself fat," said the billy goat, with such a small voice.
"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up," said the troll.
"Oh, no! pray don't take me. I'm too little, that I am," said the billy goat. "Wait a bit till the second Billy Goat Gruff comes. He's much bigger."
"Well, be off with you," said the troll.

Pic source: here
Source: Brainstormer

Let the reader have an imagination

One of the usual mistakes beginners make is to explain too much.

How much is too much? You need to learn what is necessary for the story. These come with experience, but a beginner can start developing them by recognizing the problem.

The problem is love. You love your story. You love your characters. You love the world you've invented. You want your readers to see them, appreciate them, and understand them just as you do yourself. And since you don't want your readers to start with the wrong impression, you pile up descriptive scenes as soon as the story opens. Or you drop in a big lump of description right after that 'grabber' first line you know you're supposed to have, in order to steer the reader into your vision.

For instance:

    The car plunged through the barrier and over the cliff.
    Nadine prayed the airbag would save her, her generous mouth opened in a scream, her periwinkle blue eyes fixed in horror on the ocean below, her auburn hair, thick and luxuriant, streaming behind her, her elegant, long legs braced for the crash.
    Nadine had always been strikingly beautiful, even as a child. Her hair, less golden then, was always held back by a blue ribbon. In summer a few delicious freckles dusted her nose. Wide shoulders had led, in adolescence, to a bosom of graceful proportions. Her hands were elegant and beauticians often commented on her healthy nails, nails that were now digging into the car's upholstery....

and so on.

How can we avoid this mistake? Rewrite your work, excluding every scrap of description. Now how does the story read? If a detail was not necessary, its absence will not be noticed. You'll be surprised how little description you actually need.

Use action to describe.

From Careless in Red by Elizabeth George

Use dialog to describe. (In the example below, we know their are trees, a fence, markers and in clear view of a house.)

From One Last Breath by Stephen Booth

A basic rule of writing: don't add anything that does not propel the story. Two people rushing through the night to the hospital is action, two people arguing in the car as they rush to the hospital is character development within action. The fact that one of them is six foot tall with blue eyes is neither action nor illumination.

Advice for beginners: cut. And keep cutting until you think you have reduced your story to a skeleton. The skeleton is your story. The rest is blubber.

Source: here 

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Check out Corra's blog about characters today!

Writing Transitions and Tie-backs: Part III

If a writer can make connections in their story either subtle or obvious, you engage the reader in your fiction and they will love your book.

So, how can we do that?

1) With seemingly trivial details -Hitchcock did this a lot. He would focus in on an object or movement and the viewer would wonder what the significance was for the action...later in the movie, the object would announce itself again and all would be known. This you could do in revision.

For example, in one of my mystery novels, the code I use begins with a series of numbers that the MC battles throughout the book to understand. Well at the end, she realizes what the numbers signify and it ties pieces together...

2) With seemingly small words and ideas - a) repeat a distinctive thought or phrase of dialog in the story but do it in a way that gives it a varied meaning each time he or she says it. b) put a bit of the ending in the beginning. For example, if your murderer is mentioned at the beginning and at the end the killer feels he's accomplished something by his killing spree, drop hints to his accomplishment in the beginning.

Chapter one - the murder thinks, I will become famous, they will talk about me for years to come...
Last chapter - the murder shouts, "They will talk of me and my brilliance for years to come!"(as he laughs an evil laugh...mhahaha)

or

Chapter one - the MC purchases a handbag and then chastises herself for spending to much money, poor people would murder for the money I spent on this bag.
Last chapter - after she solves a case where an innocent man died for pocket change, she sees the bag, dumps out the contents, returns it and gives the money to a homeless man on the street.

3) With consistency of character - make sure that the character always stays true to themselves. True, characters change but make sure they are truly motivated not because you want them to change to fit a scene. Review each character's goals.

4) With conflicting POV - when you tie-back characters who are in conflict to an event involving both, show how they differ in the recollection of the event. They should remain in conflict even when they remember the scene later on.

5) With the element of surprise - if you can, try and surprise your readers...not with crazy, unbelievable, or unplausable actions but use unpredictable words or sentences or endings to a scene. Surprise your character, surprise yourself.

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I made a mistake yesterday... I mentioned I got an award from Laura at Though Laura's Eyes but I forgot to add the link so you could check out her site... so, I will mention it again today. Go visit her site!

I am supposed to give this award to 12 bloggers, but 5 will have to do because I'm on the verge of colapse. I also have to display my award (done yesterday) and then write 10 things about me (see right column or below).

Sunshine award goes to:
1) Leya at Wandeca Reads
2) Charmaine Clancy at Wagging Tales
3) Mason at Thoughts in Progress
4) Jim at The Truth about Lies
5) Marce at Tea Time With Marce

Also, I've received the Kreativ Blogger Award from Rayna at Coffee Rings Everywhere... I haven't received this one before...so I will add it to my collection.

You can learn more about me on the right column and on this blog.  I still haven't decided who to give the awards to, so that will come later.

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Also, all you mystery writers check out Elizabeth's blog on making your mystery novel scary or suspenseful. She gives wonderful advice.

I've started another blog (I know... I do it torture myself.) ...it's something I plan to work on with my son. It's bUcKet list...

And for all who don't know what CARMEX is, it's lip balm.

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Writing Transitions and Tie-backs: Part II

Now were going to look at tie-backs which are reverse transitions. Because you're tying back to things that have happened earlier, you need to have an idea of what will happen through the novel.

So, if you're a writer who plans an outline, you can plan your tie-backs, if not, you can always add tie-backs in revision.

Tie-Back Techniques

1) The flashback - we've all seen them done in movies where it gets blurry and immediately we're thrown back in time and everything's explained.

However, there are problems with tie-backs done this way:
a) they're cliche - writers use them too much instead of finding a creative way to explain their actions and motives
b) they stop the story to go back
c) the last problem and one of my biggest writing peeves: they lead to dream sequences!

Please, I beg you, limit your dream sequences! Please, for the love of my sanity!

2) Foreshadowing - another overused technique. In case you don't know what it means, here's a definition from Wikipedia: (notice how many times the writers uses the words 'in other words ' in his definition)

"Foreshadowing ... provide[s] clues for the reader to be able to predict what might occur later on in the story. In other words, it is a literary device in which an author drops hints about the plot and what may come in the near future or, in other words, the plot developments to come later in the story."

In other  words, it assumes the reader is too dumb to get the point so they foreshadow a big scene more than once. And when the big scene actually arrives, the reader says, 'deja vu.'

So, does this mean that you should not use foreshadowing and flashbacks? No. But, don't overuse them.
Be creative with your flashbacks and produce surprise effects with your foreshadowing. It can be done and probably you've seen them in your favorite novels.

More on this topic next week.
Source: Brainstormer Writing Series

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This award was given me by Patricia Stoltley. She has a wonderful writing blog and she writes great mysteries set in Colorado. Check out her blog.

I give the award to:

1) Reaganstar at Star Shadow Creative Mishaps.
2) Stephen at Breakthrough Blogs
3) Rachel at I Picked up a Pen One Day
4) http://journeysinink.wordpress.com/
5) Erica at laugh.write.play

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Novel Transitions and Tie-backs - Part I

We want our stories to have continuity and flow. That's where transitions and tie-backs come in. Even when watching a movie about seemingly different lives, usually at the end, they all have one purpose or somehow their lives have crossed paths. Each character and their story ties into the theme of the work. That's transition and tie-back.

Our words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters should flow from one to the next. Every bit of your story should be related, an orderly part of the whole that can't be taken out without damaging the overall structure of the story.

How can we master transition? Two ways:
1) Think of cause and effect. Something that happens in a present scene will result in something happening in a later scene. That's why it's important to keep tract of things that happen in your plot because at the end, all the unsolved issues should be cleared up and in a way the reader least suspects.

For example, in the book Jane Eyre, references were made from the beginning about Jane's relatives and how they came from wealthy backgrounds and how some were akin to her. The reader always had that information in the back of their mind so when at the end, Jane is left with some money from her rich relatives, it didn't come as a shock, it all fit together.

2) Consider motivation. Writers who truly bring to life rich characters with personality and motivation and then give them a story that tests those motivations, it's only natural that a reaction will occur. Knowing what a character wants helps create well-rounded people in your fiction. But what’s underneath that desire to rob a bank, ski down a vertical cliff, or fall in love?

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs may not seem to apply to fiction, where a character's needs deal more with getting the guy, solving the murder, or restoring family relationships. But understanding the theory can help writers get at the core of their characters.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs says that the most basic, primitive needs must be met to form a foundation before higher needs can be considered. The seven needs, beginning with the most basic, are:

* Physiological: air, food, water, sleep
* Safety: shelter, physical and financial security
* Social (Love/Belonging): family, friendship, acceptance in a group
* Esteem: confidence, respect, acknowledgement
* Self-Actualization: morality, wisdom, personal potential
* Cognitive: acquire and understand knowledge
* Aesthetic: appreciate and create beauty and structure

What Really Drives a Character?

With these basic needs in mind, writers can deepen their characters by determining how the things a character wants (revenge, romance, a promotion, to solve a mystery, to hold a marriage together) are caused by what he or she really needs.

* A bully doesn’t pick on someone just to be mean. Does it make him accepted with his friends? Is the other worker is a threat to his job? Does he think he’ll be seen as powerful if he forces someone into submission?
* Is the village wise woman completely altruistic in helping others, or does she need the acknowledgment of others or the self-respect that comes with giving advice? Does she need the empowerment and control the position gives her? The status within her group?
* And does the corporate power broker simply enjoy the challenge and excitement of business, or does he need the outward show of respect to feel accepted? Or is he driven to success to make up for a past failure?

Writers Know More than Characters

It is important to note, however, that just because a writer knows the character’s deepest needs does not mean that the character realizes it. A woman who was shoved to the background for years while her sister dealt with cancer won’t connect that experience with her need for belonging and her desire to be the life of the party now. But you as a writer know that, and you can let that understanding come out in other ways.

Source: Read more at Suite101: Deeper Character Motivation:

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What is the benefit of reading in Google Reader vs on the Blogger dashboard?

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Also, here are some really cool blog articles I read yesterday:
1) Courtney Vail from Journeys in Ink talked about where we can find great plot ideas.
2) Charmaine Clancy showed us the important of having good web sites for our books.

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21 Tips to Get Out of the Slush Pile

First, I'm starting to make websites for my books. And for my WIP, Blondie Brilliance vs. The Titans I create a website. I would love it if you stopped by and let me know what I need to add to make it better... Remember, the website is not done. I do need to add more gadgets and such.

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Today is Friday and I'm exhausted. So, I'm going to pick an article I've read and liked from this past week. 

Here is the essential checklist of tweaks to consider when reviving a rejected story (or while writing or editing your first draft).

During the 16 years that I edited Clockwatch Review, I often found myself wishing that every writer could work as an editor for a year. After all, it's impossible to read 60-plus manuscripts daily and not develop a pretty fair sense of what makes a short story work.

While editors learn a lot about fiction, writers, unfortunately, are left only with cryptic rejection slips that say things like "sorry," "try us again" or "this came close." But the high volume of submissions makes it impossible for most editors to explain what revisions a writer might undertake. That's probably one of the most frustrating aspects of editing, because I often think to myself that a tweak here or there would make a huge difference in a rejected story. Here are 21 tweaks to consider when trying to revive a rejected story:

1. Could it use a new beginning? Lead with a powerful scene, a witty exchange or a dazzling description that's now buried. Or, try x-ing out paragraph one, then two and so on, until you get to something that includes more action, interest or contrast than your original beginning. You'll find that what you had may have been only throat-clearing, rather than saying something necessary to the overall story.

2. Does the ending allude to a deeper story? The best endings resonate because they echo a word, phrase or image from earlier in the story, and the reader is prompted to think back to that reference and speculate on a deeper meaning.

3. Is there a dominant visual image? With the movie Deliverance, it's the "Squeal like a pig" mountain rape scene; with Pulp Fiction, it's the needle thrust into the heart of a woman who had overdosed. Strong central images such as these anchor the story in our memories.

4 Is the right person telling the story? I vividly remember a Kurt Vonnegut story of a broken relationship, told not by one of the participants, but by a plumber wedged underneath a kitchen sink whom the couple seems to have forgotten. Speculation on the part of a narrator is sometimes more interesting than exposition.

5 Have you included enough interior monologue, or too much? It's amazing how many writers tell a story from a certain point of view, but don't spend much time inside that particular character's head. Without internal thoughts—which can help to serve as a counterplot to the physical action—a story will be less complex. But pick your moments carefully. Characters should reflect during pauses in the action—not during physical action scenes.

6 Are there too many minor characters, or too few? There are no hard and fast rules, but short stories can't hold too many characters (or proper names). If characters aren't absolutely necessary, get rid of them—or at least don't give them names. Call them by their occupation, function or dress, like "the grocer," "the girl who kept staring at him" or "the man in the blue shirt."

7 Have you created appropriate frequency and intensity of scenes? A scene should reveal something about the character, advance the plot in a significant way, provide insight into the "theme" or, as Eudora Welty suggested, do all three. Too few scenes can make a story seem like little more than a sketch; too many scenes can dilute a story to where important scenes can lose their power; and dramatizing the wrong moments is like highlighting the wrong passages in a novel for the next reader to find.

8 Why are you telling me this? Ever stand at a party and wonder why someone was telling you a story? The movie Stand by Me is a tale of 12-year-olds framed by a beginning where a grown writer is seen contemplating a headline about a local attorney's murder and an ending where we see that writer finding inspiration from his son and a playmate to end his story. The frame gives the story an immediate context and anticipates the "why" question.

9 Do you appeal to a reader's senses? The world around us is made "real" by our senses: touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing. Stories that lack a convincing sense of reality often lack imagery that appeals to a reader's senses. A writer once told me that he strives to include five sensory details on every page. In retrospect, that seems like overkill, but you can make a fictional world come alive for readers by making it first come alive for your characters.

10 Do you appeal to a sense of place? Many stories exist in a vacuum, where lines are spoken without any description of an interior or exterior setting. That's like going to the theater and having the house lights never come on, or having characters stand there and deliver lines without any stage action.

11 Are your characters motivated? What drives them to do the things they do? Do we know what they want?

12 Is your time frame interesting? Too many stories revolve around a single incident covering one to three hours. Could your current story really be a scene within a larger story? What if the story was stretched, like an image stamped in Silly Putty, until it became distorted and possibly more interesting?

13 Could you add texture to your story with echoes, allusions and metaphors? The fiction studied in college—Literature, with a capital "L" —is rich with figurative language and echoes. Figurative language includes metaphors, similes ("he had teeth like an alligator"), symbols and allusions ("someone had arranged the leaves on his lawn in the shape of a cross"). Echoes work by repeating key phrases or words within the story so that they have a cumulative effect on the reader.

14 Have you considered the use of an unreliable narrator? Would your story be more interesting if we were led to believe that your narrator wasn't telling the whole truth, or if our perceptions were something different from the narrator's?

15 Do you provide both trivial information and "deep thoughts"? If your character is a bricklayer, then readers want to learn more about a bricklayer's world—the technical aspects of the job, as well as the mind-set of a mason.

16 Could lyrics, letters or lists add interest? These details double as plot devices. Consider what the "Sheik of Araby" lyrics add to F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, or the letter that turns to pulp in Daisy's hand or the list of socialites who frequent Gatsby's parties.

17 What about coincidence and irony? These literary conventions add considerable interest. Say you have a story about a divorced parent who contracts AIDS, where the focus is on her first finding out and then wondering how to make provisions for her children. If you make her ex-husband the one in the relationship who is promiscuous or a drug abuser, it establishes an irony that sets up an emotional response in the reader.

18 Have you created enough contrast? Too many stories focus on a cast of characters who look, talk and act alike. If your characters are similar, try introducing quirks, interests, speech patterns, expressions, physical traits or emotional responses that will set them apart from others. When you walk down the street, what do you notice in a sea of people: two men of the same race and height, or members of the opposite sex who also are dressed radically different or have dramatic height contrasts?

19 Is your dialogue lively and engaging? Friends of Tennessee Williams said that they often thought the author had a whole house full of people, because there were all sorts of voices in varying tones and volumes coming from his writing room. That's because Williams acted out his scenes while he wrote, trying to get each character right. You can try that trick, but if your dialogue still doesn't ring true, perhaps it's what your characters are saying rather than how they're saying it. What's more interesting? Overheard conversations at the beginning or end of a date, party or gathering of friends, or conversations from the middle?

20 Can you up the ante? The simplest fictional formula is situation, followed by complication and (ir)resolution. Many times we get stories where the complication feels like part of an emerging problem the character must face, rather than an additional factor that will make a resolution tougher. Other times the complication just isn't complicated enough, or there simply isn't enough at stake. Try intensifying an existing complication, or toss in one or two more for good measure!

21 When all else fails, why not try a "sidecar" approach? So many of the stories we saw felt like theme park rides where the car follows a predictable route and never leaves the track. A boy breaks his mother's priceless vase, and the story follows the external action of his attempts to repair it and the internal action of him trying to decide whether (or how) to tell his mother about it. But what if that boy was in junior high and had just hooked up with his first serious girlfriend, and the story's focus is instead on their relationship? The vase could become a subplot, which could complicate things if the girlfriend thinks he should do something different from what he's inclined. Greater complexity means greater reader interest. So tweak away!

Source: Writer's Digest
February 11, 2010
by James Plath

Writing: Sentence Structure

What makes an effective sentence? In one word: Comprehension!

What makes a sentence easier to comprehend? In two words: less words. As the number of words increase, so does the risk of incomprehension. Each sentence should only state one idea. If you have to state another idea, start another sentence.

That doesn't mean that writing double sentences or compound sentences aren't allowed. But, try not to use them too much. You risk losing the reader in your words.

You don't want to only write short sentences either. Imagine reading this: The boy went to the store. He bought milk. He brought it home. His mother thanked him. They had cereal for dinner. After, the boy washed the dishes. Together, they sat and watched Jeopardy. At eleven, they went to bed.
How monotonous!

You want to combine short and long sentences together. Not all too long, not all too short.


Put the subject close to the beginning of the sentence: Writers often bury the subject behind a lengthy clause, rendering the subject punchless. Obviously, there are times when the writer intends to highlight something other than the subject. It should, however, be done sparingly.

* Ineffective: Hurt more by the betrayal of his noble friend Brutus than by the shaky knife thrusts of Casca, Cassius, and Decius, Caesar collapsed and died.
* Effective: Caesar collapsed and died, hurt more by the betrayal of his noble friend Brutus than by the shaky knife thrusts of Casca, Cassius, and Decius.

Use active voice, not passive voice.

* Ineffective: Frank was very angry at Ted's betrayal.
* Effective: Ted's betrayal angered Frank..

Source: http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/22352.aspx

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Take it as it Comes gave me this award. Thank you so much...I needed a happiness reminder on this gray day.

1) My son!
2) Coffee!
3) My friend and husband, who will kill me for listing him third. (This list is in no particular order...)
4) Writing
5) Sleeping
6) Showering
7) My dog and her cute wrinkly little face.
8) My nieces and nephews
9) Dancing like a crazy person
10) A good old fashioned locked room puzzle or any puzzle for that matter.

I give this award to:
1) Coffee Rings Everywhere for making me cry this morning. Rayna's blog made me cry!
2) Tirz at A Clever Whatever, you need a bit of cheering up!
3) Martin Edwards
4) Elizabeth Spann Craig
5) Corra at from the desk of a writer
(Some of you may already have it...but, it's good publicity anyway.)

Writers: Stay out of it!

I'm currently reading Jane Eyre and one thing I notice about the Bronte sisters is they often say: "Dear Reader". Most modern writers don't step so blatantly into their story but sometimes we can't help ourselves and think we can do it subtly.

Here's another example of the writer speaking to their audience: Little did she know what was waiting for her on the other side of the door. The character doesn't know, but it's clear the author does and he's letting the reader know too.

Still, you may be saying, that's quite obvious.

What about these examples?

1) If a writer uses word gimmicks - like alliteration 'She wound up wishing she was washing in a wishing well.' Unless the character says that in dialog, it's the author choosing those words...not that they ever would chose those exact words because they're awful... But, ultimately, is the character in the story thinking that or is it the writer? What about multiple exclamation points not in dialog.

2) Preaching from the mouth of a character - please, don't use your writing to make unnecessary political, social, or religious statements that aren't vital to the story's plot or the character's personality.

3) Showing off our knowledge - writers need to do research, but if he just writes what he knows to show off and not advance the plot, it's writer intrusion. Lets say you do research on dogs to find the best dog for a certain climate condition. Do you then need to write about ten different breeds and their Latin names just to say: Mark picked the strongest St. Bernard to accompany him as he cross-country skied through the snowy woods.

4) If a reader can't understand skips your words because of flowery writing or excessive description, the writer has allowed his/her presence to be felt. If you've ever read a book and have had to stop because your confused, you're no longer in the character's world, you're in the writers. A reader should never have to ask, 'What was the writer trying to say?'

5) Don't keep repeating your own pet phrases or words in the narrative.

Can you think of any other examples of writer intrusion?

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Next, I wanted to send a thank you to Kimberly Franklin who gave me this award. She has changed the background on her blog. Go check it out.

I guess, I'm suppose to list seven things but I will do that on a later blog. Also, I have to give it away to deserving, but first, I need to find those who haven't received this award yet. Hmm, if you don't have this one and want it, let me know. I will be glad to advertise your blog here...

And the award goes to:
1) Book Dilettante
2) from the desk of a writer
3) Ellie O'leary  at Writing Thru It
4) Mystery Writing is Murder (though she already has it...)
5) Carol at Carol's Prints

Writing: Creating Powerful Images

When I write my first draft, I write bare-bones. Only what I need. The next draft, I fill in some of the little details or descriptions.

One thing that irritates me when I read a novel is the constant interruption in action to describe things. If a woman is being shot at, I don't need to know her shirt is red or that she's shorter than her sister who was born in the Yucatan and only likes to drink beer.

Description is important but you can create powerful images without disrupting the flow of dialog, action and conflict.

How?

1) Paint the image in small bites - if a woman is running through the forest, don't stop action to describe the trees and the birds and the fact that the forest is known for its conifers.
Better example: As she escaped through the woods, pine branches lashed her face. (you know you're running through a forest of pines, close together.)

2) Incorporate image into the action - Have the character describe not the author.
Better example: She pointed in the direction of the looming hulk in the pitch black of night. 'Did you hear that?'
'No,' he said, 'it couldn't be...'
The crashing of brush told them it could.

3) See through the character's eyes.

4) Don't describe the cliche, the norm, describe telling details - When describing the forest, don't just describe the eerieness of the trees and the shadows...that's been done. Instead, describe a spider's web that the character got caught up in or ran into or maybe a startled rabble of butterflies fluttered off the tree in front of her face and the dust from their wings made her sneeze.

5) Choose better verbs.

6) Make verbs into better adverbs - Looming could be an adjective or crashing could be a noun. Love your thesaurus and your dictionary!

7) Invent fresh viewpoints - describe the scene as a blind person feels it. Or as a deaf feels it.

8) Create an image without saying so - 'She threw her Kindle across the room, breaking the glass on her father's platinum album award' says a lot about the character, a) she's into technology b) has anger issues c) doesn't value her possessions d) is rich e) her father is a musician f) a famous musician g) she likes reading

Picture source: here
From Fiction Writers Brainstorm

The Hook: Get Caught! & Awards!

First, I want to thank a few people for some awards. Kimberley Franklin gave me the coveted Over the top Award. You can see my answers here.

Second, Under The Tiki Hut gave me a "Creative Writer" award. Apparently, I'm a great liar. Thank you.

Both of these awards come from great blogs. You should check them out if you haven't already.

Alright, six of these are lies and one is the truth. Which one is true?

1. I know Morse Code.
2. I put 4 tsps of sugar in my coffee.
3. I can read your mind... (No wait, that one is true. You were just thinking, 'Oh yeah, what was I thinking?') I'm considered obese.
4. I've been stabbed by a family member.
5. I've been in three States at once.
6. I know how to count to ten in 15 languages.
7. I never forget anything.

I will hand this award out tomorrow.

Now, to finding your hook.

In this dog-eat-dog world of publishing, a hook is vital. A hook will make a buyer pick your book to spend his $15 on instead of another. 

What is a hook? Understand this, it's not the plot. But it's your character's goal or quest and and what stands in the way. It should plant a seed of suspense, set the mood, begin building dramatic tension, and pose a question the reader wants answered.

Lets look at some examples:
STAR WARS--will Luke become a great jedi?
A FEW GOOD MEN--will they uncover the culprits behind the soldiers death?
A GAME OF THRONES--will the land survive the long night?

Jane Austen's opening line, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Your hook has to be put down right away. A reader wont wait until 1/3 of the book is done for the hook. Your readers should know right away what the story's about.

How do you write a hook?

Where most of us go wrong is focusing on that ideal conflict-laden opening, the one guaranteed to bring in readers and sales. Forget conflict, excitement, and sales for the moment. What the hook does is represent the story. It tells readers what to expect from the story as a whole. If the reader likes that kind of story, that will be excitement enough to draw him in... and if he don't like that kind of story, you didn't have much of a chance anyway.

So the first step is to identify what is most important about your story. All stories contain four main elements: people, plot, setting, and style. In most stories, one of these four will be more important than the other three. What element of your story do you expect people to be most drawn to? Which sets it off from other, similar stories? What do your first readers compliment you on the most?

Some of this will be genre-dependent. Romance novels will mostly be character-centric, mysteries likely to focus on plot.

It may be that characters that are the best things about your story, but there is one character -- your protagonist -- who is the best character of all. It may be plot that people read your stories for, but there is one plotline -- the main one -- that they really want.


Step 1

Study the competition. To be a successful writer, you need to be familiar with not only what ground has been previously covered but also how it was covered in fresh and innovative ways. For instance, although the romance genre is known to follow a standard formula of "boy meets girl/boy loses girl/boy gets girl back," the broad number of variations employed involve elements such as conflicting religions, the chasm of respective job/social status, and fantasy obstacles such as time travel, science experiments and magic spells.

Step 2

Identify at least three things in your plot that are unique from the titles you have researched in Step #1. For example, suppose you are an expert on Mesopotamia and have written your romance novel in this time period. Unlike many period romances that transpire in the Middle Ages, during the Civil War, or at turn-of-the-century London or New York, the setting of Mesopotamia is pretty much an untapped territory and readers would probably be interested in learning more about it. Furthermore, your heroine has come to power by pretending to be a man. Thirdly, the object of her affections is blind and wouldn't know how beautiful the heroine was even if she wasn't in disguise. Put these three spins together and you've got yourself a good hook.

Step 3

Identify at least one thing about yourself that puts you in an expert position to write this book. Let's say that you have written a nonfiction text about how to cope with the challenges of living with an autistic child. If you are a doctor or educational professional whose specialty is the field of autism or if you are a parent who has gone through the experiences of raising an autistic son or daughter, your level of credibility will cause readers in similar circumstances to seek you out for advice and support. Even in a fictional context (i.e., a crime novel), the real-life experiences you can bring to the table (i.e., as a former detective/investigator/attorney) will make the events that transpire in the book resonate with accuracy. This is the kind of supporting documentation that editors notice when you mention them upfront in a query letter.

Step 4

Summarize your plot in one short question. If, for instance, your book was adapted to a movie and it was playing at the local theater, what would the teaser on the lobby poster say? The question you come up with should be something that not only dares a reader to wonder "what if" but also drops a hint as to what the movie is going to be about. Example: "What if the greatest magician of our time...wasn't from our time?" This technique works well as the opening line to your agent/editor query letter because it dares the recipient to keep reading to find out what it means. Steps 5-8 offer other openers that will keep your submission from sliding into the slush pile.

Step 5

Compose a controversial statement that catches the reader off guard. Whether it's the first line in your book or the opening line in your query letter, the intent is to grab their attention. If, for example, you noticed a magazine article titled "Your Diet Is Killing You," you'd be drawn to read it because it contradicts your belief that diets are supposed to help you lose extra pounds to live longer.

Step 6

Open with a fact. If your book is nonfiction, this is pretty easy to do because you're probably just lifting something from one of your own chapters that falls into the "bet you didn't know this" category. If you're pitching a work of fiction, however, the "fact" in question can actually be just a creative perception of one of the characters with absolutely no bearing on reality.

Step 7

Open your query letter with a catchy quotation, especially one that hasn't been done to death. Internet sources such as Brainy Quote (see Resources) are great for this purpose. If it's a quote that you can twist a bit, even better. Example: "Time wounds all heels."

Step 8

Start your query letter with a story. It could either be the opening paragraph from the book itself or it could be the synopsis. The latter is especially effective if it's a first-person narrative based on a true event. Example: "Dear Ms. Jones, If someone had told me eight years ago that I'd be writing to you, I wouldn't have believed them. There's nothing about my personality that shouts 'writer' nor anything in my family background that I ever felt was extraordinary. For as long as I can remember, I've simply gotten up every day and gone to work and come back home. All of that changed, though, on a Tuesday morning in September when the world as I knew it came crashing down and I was soon thereafter listed among the missing."

Step 9

Study the list of the "100 Best Novels of All Time" (see Resources). As time permits, read the opening paragraph of each book for its "hookability." Likewise, read what the critics have said about what made each book stand out.

Sources: Writing Hooks
E-How

12 1/2 Rules of Writing

Too lazy to do a blog, so I thought I would have a picture do it for me. A picture does say 1000 words or in this case, fewer.

Picture source: here